


These Flowers Are Sold

by ricochet (melas_chole)



Category: No. 6 (Anime & Manga), No. 6 - All Media Types, No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, M/M, POV, all those you might find implied in a dream, but not so much, maybe some fluff, thinky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 10:50:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6902806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melas_chole/pseuds/ricochet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shion tries to cope with the emotions Rikiga's words stir in him.<br/>And everything else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> I don't own any of No. 6 or the characters.
> 
> If anything, they own me.
> 
> \---
> 
> Warning:
> 
>  ~~Since for some reason, additional tagging doesn't work for me at the moment, I will put a trigger warning here.~~ The tagging works again; I will leave this warning here nonetheless: The story contains passages that can be interpretetd as refering to child abuse/non-con/prostitution. If you are triggered by this or simply do not want to read something like this, please don't continue reading.
> 
> \---

Shion sat on the couch, deep in thought. The meeting with Rikiga hadn’t quite gone as planned.  
He flexed his right hand looking at it pensively. He remembered flying over the table and gripping the collar of the man’s shirt tightly. Remembered strangling him and shouting at him with hot rage.  
He had surprised himself: he hadn’t known he had it in himself to do something like that. Nezumi probably hadn’t either. He had even said so.

_“It was a joke.”,_ he had told him. _“Don't get yourself worked up about it.”  
A joke?!_ Shion clenched his fist, the heat of anger raising to his face again.

He jumped with a start as the door of the small room opened.  
Nezumi looked at the startled boy, drying his damp hair with one hand. Although Shion – his heart pounding – did his best to hide his agitation, Shion's flushed cheeks, his tense jaw and the quick unclenching of his hand hadn't escaped Nezumi’s observant eyes. Grasping every detail of any situation within an instant was a skill he had honed over the years and one that had often guaranteed his survival. The dark haired boy frowned internally but decided to leave it be. 

“It's your turn” he commented dryly, returning his attention to his hair.  
Shion gazed at him for a moment, observing the silhouette of his slender body, the muscles if his bare abdomen, his biceps as it dried his hair. Shaking the thoughts out if his head, he got up and left for the bathroom.

\---

Soaking in the hot bathwater, Shion tried to relax as he leaned back into the bath tub’s concrete wall, tessellated with tiny dark green tiles. He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes, endeavoring to rid himself of his agitated thoughts.

_“God knows where you’ve come from and where you've been...”_  
Shion’s eyes shot open again, his cheeks burning.  
He couldn't let it go. He had so many troubling feelings about this.

Nezumi had been so calm about it. As if it didn’t concern him the slightest. Shion was furious.  
He could feel his fists burning even in the hot water. He wanted to punch Rikiga. Punch anyone. Punch them over and over again.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him? Why was he so angry? Anger like he had never felt before.  
Was it because he feared that Rikiga’s words had actually more than just a joke, more than a mere insult?

He shook his head vigorously at this thought, eyes pressed shot, causing little droplets of water to fly from his hair.  
He didn’t want to think about this.

Nezumi would probably scold him for being childish. He felt embarrassed. Not only had he been shielded from bad things in No. 6, even now he tried to shield his own mind from troubling thoughts.  
But this was horrible… this was…

_“This is reality!”_ Nezumi's had once told him. _“Look at it!”  
_

Yes, he had asserted then, he wanted to look at it. He didn't want to turn his eyes away from the cruelty of the world any more.  
Shion had seen so much already in the past few weeks. More that he had ever thought possible before being swept out of his protected life within the walls of No. 6. He tried to steady his mind.

_No.6._ Where he had come from. Shion thought about the battered boy he had taken in in Chronos 4 years ago; about the young man who sheltered him now and who was so knowledgeable about the cruelties of the the West Block.  
He thought about the kids begging and stealing at the marketplace, always with the risk of being shot. He thought about the lecherous Collectors and the prostitutes trying to lure him into the alleyways.

_“Don't try to play cool with me.”_ Rikiga’s words echoed in his head. _“Surely someone like you has only come this far in life having experience with this.”_

Shion was angry...so angry! Just as he had been before. And so frustrated. Why hadn't Nezumi said anything? Tears welled up in his eyes again, he clenched his jaw and fists. This couldn't be! He felt so helpless. _Nezumi..._

Shion’s body trembled underneath the water. But he wouldn't cry again! He pressed his head against the damp, crumbling wall. It wasn’t his place to cry.  
He pressed his face deeper into the broken tiles, feeling anger, frustration, helplessness and pain...yes, he felt pain. Like a sharp dagger twisting in his heard.

A single sob escaped his throat as he sat there, silent, trembling in the dimly lit bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

_Shion lay on his back. He was resting on a soft bed, it was warm and peaceful. Someone was holding his hand. He opened his eyes to the relaxed features of a dark-haired boy. He was in his old room in Chronos. It was on the night of his twelfth birthday. They had been laughing. The boy next to him opened his eyes, silvery storming orbs captured him, so alive, so adamant..._

_A bright grey light flashed through the room, forcing Shion to close his eyes._

_When he opened them again silver eyes where gazing at him but their expression had changed dramatically: they held defiance, warning and something…fear._

_With a thundering noise the grey light blinded Shion again. He felt the hand of the other boy slip from his hand. He tried to clutch at it but the other boy was gone._

_From his back Shion jumped to all fours as the grey light swallowed his room. He realized, he wasn’t 12 years old anymore, his bed and Chronos disintegrated. He was running though the greyish light, trying to find the other boy. His chest felt tight, his heart raced. Where was he? He cried his name._

_Buildings appeared in the smoky light every now and then – fragments of ruined houses – and vanished again. He heard noises, loud and menacing, but couldn’t make out what they where. He ran on. He thought he saw a small boy with long black hair running through the smoke._

_“Nezumi!” Shion stumbled and fell onto the dirty, ashen ground. Sharp stones cut his hands. He could make out voices within the growling noise. Lewd laughter rang through the air. The thick gray smoke around him flared up, blinding him again._

_Shion found the ground beneath his hands had turned into rough old floorboards. The voices and laughter had become louder, repelling him._

_“Nezumi!”, he screamed, his voice full of panic. He had to find the boy._

_He struggled to get up, hardly seeing anything. Everything seemed to spin around him in the thick smoke. He heard the voices, the laughter, heavy breathing. Even louder._

_“Such a pretty boy!”_

_Shion wanted to cover his ears. His mind and heart were racing._ No.

_He fought through the blinding smoke. He wanted to scream the boys name but the smoke filled his lungs._

_“Be good!”_

_He felt the voice almost above him, felt hot heaving as if on his own neck._ No!

 _He fought the smoke, his panic. And, falling again, he saw him, through a crack of an open door, pressed to the floor._ No, no!

 _He saw his small hand stretched out on the dark floorboards, looked right into his silver eyes as a huge, coarse hand clutched his tiny fist and roaring with laughter, groaning held him firm to the ground._ Nooo!

Shion screamed and tried to lunge out but firm hands held him down.

“Shion!”

Shion’s eyes flew wide open, his every muscle tense and his whole body only held down by the force of he man squatting on him. His heart was racing, and he was breathing agitatedly as he blinked, yet unable to comprehend his surroundings.

“Hey, Shion!” He tried to focus on the familiar voice and looked up into stern silver eyes.

_Silver Eyes._

His mind wanted to form a name – _Nezumi!_ – but his lips weren’t able to yet.

Shion tried to steady his breathing as he looked up into those silver eyes. As he relaxed his muscles somewhat, the other boy eased his strong grip on his arms. Shion hardly felt the burning sensation where Nezumi’s strong hands, just seconds ago, had pinned him down firmly. Nor did he realize that his body was drenched in sweat. He could just look up into silver eyes. _Nezumi’s silver eyes._

The remembrance of his dream crashed over him together with the reality of the previous days. Nezumi’s eyes were still superimposed with those of the boy in his dream.

Was this reality?

Was this what it was truly like?

His feelings overwhelmed him. His agony, his helplessness, his rage and his grief.

Hot tears welled up in his eyes. A frown formed on Nezumi’s forehead. “Hey, Shion, are you alright?” Shion couldn’t look away from his eyes, yet he couldn’t bear to look at them. Was _he_ alright?! He hadn’t been able to help him…and how pitiful he was now.

“What is going on?” Nezumi’s voice asked austere almost concerned. Shion was in so much pain and he was furious. Nezumi’s eyes were strong. As were the arms that held him. For a second Shion wanted to just give in. A single tear escaped his overflowing eyes and Shion couldn’t take it any more. This wasn’t right.

“Nothing!”, he jerked one of his arms free from Nezumi’s grip. He hastened to get up, being let to do so by Nezumi who removed himself with ease from his previous position above him. He didn’t dare to turn around and glance at the man sitting on his legs on their shared bed, undoubtedly looking at him.

Headlessly, Shion rushed out of the room. Stumbling against the coffee table and a stack of books on his way by paying them no mind.

Still raw from his dream and his fears, he let his body slump against the dusty wall next to the closed door, letting out one ragged breath. _You’re so pathetic!_

Shion slid down the wall until he sat on the ground, whirling up some dust. His eyes burned, as he thought about the man behind the wall. About the boy he used to be. The boy he technically still was.

He couldn’t protect him at all!

Not then and not now!

He turned his head up to the pitch black ceiling and hot tears streamed down his face. His mouth and eyes wide open, as if to scream out all his agitation, he soundlessly cried in the darkness of the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

Shion was freezing.

Winter outside of No. 6’s regulated climate was indeed much colder than Shion had ever experienced. The temperatures had fallen far below zero for a week now, the ground had frozen solid and the air was icily stinging.  
Shion was trying his best to stay warm in this piercing cold, but today he seemed to have lost the fight. Washing the dogs all day in the biting frost surely didn’t help this either.

He had come back late from his straining work and dragged himself into the shower tiredly. The hot bathwater, which by now was cooling down quickly due to the ambient temperature and the need to ration coal, hadn’t been able to warm him up properly.  
They hadn’t had the ingredients for stew today. Their modest fare of bread, some dried meat and rather old, stored apples had been gratifying – as little as he would have thought so only a couple of moths ago. But the cup of boiled water accompanying their meal hadn’t revived his limbs either.

And so Shion was lying in bed, his body benumbed to a degree where it was almost painful. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and warm up a bit, yet none of it came to pass. He was trying not to fidget too much and disturb Nezumi while the intense coldness was keeping him awake. The small underground room was dark and chilly. The three mice were huddled together somewhere near to Nezumi. Often some of them cuddled up to him at night but he couldn’t blame them for staying away from him today.

Shion chafed his cold arms and tried to curl up as far as his space on the bed allowed. He could feel Nezumi’s body distantly radiating warmth that was too far removed from him by the few inches they always maintained between them. He dug his head deeper under the two thin blankets, which covered the two boys.

“Oi, Shion, you’re ice cold!” Nezumi’s brittle voice startled Shion. He hadn’t thought that Nezumi had been anything but sleeping.

“I know.” Shion whispered apologetically, “I’m sorry.”

Tucking his palms under his armpits, the iciness of his fingers gave him a start but Shion tried to keep as still as possible. He didn’t want to be a bother. Not any more than he already was.

He closed his eyes and tried to will his chilled through body to thaw.  
He knew Nezumi needed to work tomorrow. He seemed to work a lot recently, at the theater and whatever it was he was doing during the day. Shion’s dog-washing job didn’t contribute all that much and Shion already felt deeply indebted to Nezumi.  
Lying still, Shion tried to think of something else but his body aching with the cold. His eyes were heavy and he felt drained. And he was cold, so cold, he didn’t notice the shivers running through his body.

There was a sigh, then a movement and all of a sudden Nezumi’s body was scooped around his. Shion’s eyes flared open.

Nezumi pressed his warm body against Shion’s back and wrapped one arm around his folded arms. Shion’s heartbeat accelerated exponentially as he lay there, paralyzed. He felt Nezumi’s firmly toned chest and torso tightly against his spine, his warmth seeping through the thin fabric of their shirts. Another shiver rippled through Shion’s body.

“It would be a problem if you got a sick,” the other boy explained circumstantially, putting on an air of mild annoyance. Shion felt his deep voice vibrating through his shoulders.  
His body was aching in many ways more than it had before. Shion glared into the darkness of the room in panic.

Nezumi’s warmth was soothing, yet ever so slightly painful against the iciness of his own body. The heat of Nezumi’s body was cracking Shion’s icebound surface and soaking through his skin while from the core of Shion’s being a blaze swiftly spread through his limbs. He was freezing and burning at the same time. Not able to speak nor move, he could only –  thankfully – accept this warmth; whatever havoc it was wreaking with him.

Shion tried to steady his breathing, relax his tensed muscles and concentrate only on the sensation of his body slowly thawing.

It turned out that it was painstakingly difficult to only observe your own body when another was so tightly wrapped around it. And as Shion’s differentiated sense of touch slowly returned together with the life in his limbs he couldn’t help but be acutely aware of every inch of Nezumi’s body touching his.

He felt the bones of Nezumi’s shoulder, the well-shaped bulge of his deltoid resting on his upper left arm. The warm skin of Nezumi’s arm touching his own beyond the hems of their sleeves. His forearm tightly holding Shion’s crossed arms – he must surely feel Shion’s heart beating wildly in his chest – and the firm grip of his hand, strong and slender fingers clasping his right arm. Shion’s body was aching yet reveling.

He felt Nezumi’s defined chest rise and fall against his upper back with every breath.  
And he wondered whether he had ever been this close to anybody.  
There had been the occasional hugs and touches by Safu that now appeared in another light. His mother used to embrace him and he distantly remembered that they had cuddled when he was still a kid, but that was ages ago. And he guessed that his mother had held him tightly when he was still an infant. But this felt different, this felt…

There was a spot at the small of Shion’s back where both their shirts were rucked up and although their bodies weren’t directly touching at this particular spot, Shion could feel the heat of Nezumi’s abdomen radiating from the minuscule area of bare skin only inches away from his. If he leaned in just a little bit more…it was maddening.

How could Nezumi do this so casually? Probably because it didn't mean that much to him. Because it didn’t feel like this to him.

Unbending his curled-up legs slightly, Shion stopped at once as he made contact with Nezumi’s bent legs. The warms of Nezumi’s thewed legs scorched the back of Shion’s thighs in a way that wasn’t merely physical. Shion all but moaned with despair yet he couldn’t bring himself to break the contact. He felt Nezumi’s whole body enfolding him, warm, agile, graceful physique…Shion was reeling in a perverse twist of terror and bliss.

His body and mind were exhausted - from the day from the cold, from…all of this – and he surely wasn’t in his right mind anymore but, Shion was mentally keening, Nezumi felt beautiful!

By the time his body had completely warmed up and sheer exhaustion was claiming him, Shion kept drifting in and out of sleep for some time. He noticed only vaguely that he had relaxed deep into the warmth of Nezumi’s body before his consciousness drifted off again.  
Was Nezumi asleep? Shion wondered remotely. His breathing seemed slow and even. Shion felt his own breathing fall in sync. It was all drowsy, warm and Nezumi.   
There was something. He was, he was…  
Nezumi was still holding him tightly! Shion’s mind surged back into wakefulness.   
Briefly.  
A wave of emotions crashed over Shion before – finally – sleep gently swept him away.


End file.
